


The Deal

by ziraseal



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, F/F, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-22 06:34:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7423816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziraseal/pseuds/ziraseal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A certain fourteen-year-old Avatar comes across a certain sixteen-year-old Metalbender in her compound. How strange.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Deal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sskuvira](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=sskuvira).



               

                Korra stretched her back before flopping down on the sofa, smiling when Naga crawled up to meet her. The humongous Polar Bear Dog crawled down on top of her and sank the entire couch down a few feet. Her Earthbending teacher gave her a scowl of disapproval and pointed at the map on the wall.

                “This snow storm is making it impossible to practice our bending sets. Therefore, I want you to memorize the various Earth Kingdom states within the next three days, so start studying!”

                “What’s the harm in taking a little break?” the fourteen-year-old whined from underneath a mountain of white fur, “We’ve been training since dawn! My feet are killing me!”

                “There’s no time for slacking around when you become a fully realized Avatar!”

                “I just started my period for the first time only three months ago, why do you think I’m old enough for you to be treating me like a soldier?!” Korra angrily snapped, sitting up and breathing a puff of fire from her mouth.

                At this, her Earthbending teacher went pale white and turned promptly on his heels, muttering for her to “get around to studying sometime this evening”, and slamming the door to her hut. Korra took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down the way Katara taught her, but she couldn’t hold it anymore. She turned and leaned forwards so that she could bury her face in Naga’s huge shoulder, wave after wave of tears spilling out of her eyes.

                “It’s not fair!” she sobbed. “I just want to go home!”

                Naga whined and thumped her tail against the floor, rattling the foundation of the hut. Her black nose, the size of a Pai Sho board, pushed into Korra’s stomach and lifted the young girl up. The Polar Bear Dog then gently set the girl upright on the ground, slowly meandering off the couch and across the room.

                “No girl,” Korra sniffled, “It’s too cold out for a ride, you know I don’t really know that much Firebending yet— this isn’t like the time I found you, that storm wasn’t nearly as bad as this one.”

                The beast whined again.

                “I suppose we can sneak over to the kitchens,” she shrugged. “It’s not like they’ll miss the dried Sea Prunes in the upper cabinet.”

                For an animal the size of a Satomobile (an invention that Korra had only seen once or twice during the Glacier Spirits Festival), Naga was surprisingly quiet and stealthy. She supposed it was hunting instincts that aided the dog, that and the pads on the dog’s feet that allowed her to tread lightly over the packed snow. Korra moved faster, ducking behind buildings and manipulating the snow to create small half-walls from which she could hide behind. If the guards could see her (which was more than likely), they didn’t say anything— only standing at their posts with amused smirks as they ignored the sneaking Avatar making her way towards the kitchens.

                All in all, the galley stank something awful. Korra frowned a little and shot a glare at her dog, as the beast used her massive paws to pry the top of a barrel of dog food off, and dig in.

                “If we get caught, this was your idea.”

                The dog looked up, but she’d been so focused on eating the food that she’d gotten her snout stuck in the barrel. Naga panicked and shook her head violently, causing the casket to go flying up and smack into Korra. The Avatar let out a yelp as she went flying into a shelf.

                _CRASH!!_

                “Ow! Naga!” she groaned, from underneath several bags of rice. “That’s going to leave a bruise!”

                She heard footsteps, in an unusual and offbeat rhythm, slowly resonate louder and louder as someone walked up to her. A pair of hands silently worked to pull the food off of her, and before she knew it, the person had gently tugged her to her feet. For a moment, the two teenagers looked at each other— a fourteen-year-old Water Tribe girl standing there with a dumbfound gaze and a jaw slack as she took in the opposite; a shy-looking sixteen-year-old Earth Kingdom girl who was rocking from her heel to her toe, as though she wished for Korra to speak first. The other teenager had light skin and long black hair, braided in a plait down her back. Her bangs were a little unruly, covering up one of her bright green eyes, and when Korra looked a little harder, she realized that the bangs were also hiding a beauty mark under said eye. Something in her stance, in the muscles making up her arms and shoulders, and the way her jaw was firmly set told Korra that this girl was an Earthbender.

                “The… uh… the door was open.”

                But before the older girl could bashfully turn away, Korra excitedly grabbed her wrist. Rare was the chance that the isolated Avatar had the privilege of enjoying company under the age of forty-five (besides her own parents, of course). Her face lit up in joy.

                “Who are you? What are you doing here? Did you come by boat? How did you sneak in? It was Hidetaka, wasn’t it? He’s always sleeping on the job. You’re probably cold, right? Or are you a Lavabender?! Can they keep warm like Firebenders? I haven’t learned that trick yet—”

                “Slow down, slow down!” the older girl laughed, holding up her mittens in defense.

                “Oh. Sorry. I don’t meet a lot of kids my age,” Korra apologized.

                “It’s alright. My name is Kuvira.”

                The girl then did something that… well… Korra hadn’t been expecting. She bowed low, with her eyes calmly closed and her mouth drawn into a smile. As far as the Water Tribe girl knew, you only bowed before combat. But this was something else entirely, wasn’t it?

                And so for the first time (at least in this life), the Avatar bowed back with the intent of showing peaceful respect.

                “My name is Korra,” she grinned. “But you didn’t answer my question!”

                “Which one?”

                The Avatar blinked, “What are you doing here?”

                “My… mentor and her mom came to visit Master Katara, and she said I could grab a bite to eat while they had tea.”

                “Where are you from?”

                “Zaofu,” Kuvira answered. “Home of the Metal Clan.”

                The place sounded familiar, but Korra couldn’t put her finger on it— almost as though a memory from long ago had been planted in the back of her head. She wasn’t sure.

                Kuvira went to putting food back on the shelf, and Korra joined her, lest Master Miyazaki berate her for causing such a mess. She lifted several of the heavy rice bags up over her shoulder and rolled the barrel with her foot across the room (Naga noticeably hiding in the corner with a mouthful of jerky). When all that was done, she gestured for Kuvira to come and join her at the table, surprising the Earthbender when she hopped up on the surface and opened the window.

                “What are you doing?” Kuvira asked in curiosity.

                “Come on!”

                The two girls climbed through the window and onto the roof of the kitchen hut, huddling low and pulling their hoods up as the storm raged over the compound.

                “Why are we up here?!”

                “Just wait,” Korra answered with a knowing smirk. “Master Keio was being mean to me yesterday, and made fun of Master Katara behind her back for being old. I didn’t like that, so I poured water on the space in front of his house, and it should be frozen by now. He goes out for a cigarette at exactly 7:00 every night… and in three… two… one…”

                The girls leaned forwards and peered through the blizzard at the cabin on the opposite side of the compound. A sliver of light could be seen as Master Keio opened the door and stepped out, casually walking down the front porch and fetching a lighter from his pocket. He didn’t get a foot away from the stairs before slipping and ending on his side— cursing very loudly and sending his cigarettes everywhere.

                “Now he’s going to have to see Master Katara for the bruise on his ass,” Korra smirked. “Maybe he’ll learn a thing or two about humility while talking to her.”

                Kuvira laughed and helped Korra climb back down into the kitchen, where they sat by the fire and traded stories while munching on some of Sentry Sumida’s trail mix. Kuvira was still shivering a little from the cold, but her face was lit up in excitement as she told the young Avatar all about the city of Zaofu.

                “There are trains that can take you wherever you want to go! And so much dancing— my feet are so sore, but I’ve never had more fun than when I went flying around the practice room on a cable! Master Suyin has taught me so much about Aluminum— it’s terribly light and easy to bend, so they prefer it for swinging around.”

                “Wait, wait, wait! You’re a Metalbender?!”

                Kuvira quickly ate her handful of nuts and berries and nodded, “Mmhmm!”

                “Wow!” Korra said in awe. “You’re so amazing!”

                “Oh… um… it’s nothing, really. I’m sure you’ll get the chance to learn someday!”

                Korra hopped out of the chair so quickly that Kuvira nearly tossed the bag of trail mix into the air in surprise. The Avatar raced to the other side of the room, tugged a drawer open, searched around, and then sped back to the table. She held up a spoon and gave Kuvira an excited grin;

                “Teach me!”

                “What?”

                “Teach me some basic Metalbending— I promise I’m a good learner!”

                Kuvira hesitated, and then picked up the spoon. She held it in her palms, outstretched for Korra to see, and then concentrated on reshaping the ore within. Like liquid, the silverware turned into a small flat disc, into a crude fork, and then into a dull knife.

                “The key is to find the earth within the metal, okay? It’s alright if you don’t get it on the first try,” Kuvira explained patiently.

                “Okay.”

                Korra took a deep breath and focused. Her fingers twitched, but the metal that the older girl was holding did not budge. She had a flash of a boy trying to stand in an Earthbending pose, with a boulder looming overhead on a ledge, and then she opened her eyes. How strange. She took another breath and attempted to seek the unrefined material within the metal, but couldn’t locate it.

                “I can’t,” she murmured with dejection. “I don’t think I’m ready yet.”

                Kuvira sighed softly through her nose, “Well maybe you can come up to Zaofu and my Mentor can teach you. If anyone can, it’s her!”

                “That sounds like a great idea!” Korra nodded, “And you can show me those miracle planes!”

                “Trains!” Kuvira corrected.

                “Right!”

                There was a knock at the door, and both girls looked up to see a middle-aged woman with salt and pepper hair standing in the doorway. To her right were two elderly woman; Master Katara and someone that… well… Korra thought she recognized. With snow white hair done up in a bun and a green winter coat warmly wrapped around her shoulders, the grandmother could have been anyone. But a mysterious memory was locked behind the pale, blind eyes that the elderly woman had— a memory that Korra could faintly recall.

                “Hey Toph!” she blurted out. “Wait… who are you? You’re Toph right, isn’t that Toph?”

                “There’s no earth and I can’t see anything, it’s cold as hell, and now there’s small children,” the smaller elderly woman grumbled. “Why anyone would want to live here is beyond me.”

                “Mother…” the youngest of the three women groaned.

                “Oh, I’m just kidding. Where are you, Twinkletoes? I can’t see through the wood.”

                _Twinkletoes_? That was… that was her nickname, right? Wait… since when was that her nickname?!? Who called her that? Korra meandered forwards and the elderly woman suddenly punched her arm— so hard that she could’ve sworn the bone was fractured. The Avatar let out a yelp and pressed her other arm gingerly to the already forming bruise.

                “Toph, play nice,” Katara chuckled. “Just because you two have known each other for a long time doesn’t mean you need to be so harsh.”

                “Oh, she can take it,” Toph grinned, pulling Korra in for an awkward side-hug, “Be grateful, that’s the only hug you’re going to get this decade, Twinkletoes!”

                “Korra, why don’t you show Kuvira to your cabin? We’ll have a sparring match in the morning and the two of you can see who’s the stronger Earthbender,” Suyin smiled.

                “Why, it’s me of course!” Toph boasted.

                “I meant between the girls, mother.”

                “Oh. Well that’s just boring,” the blind woman muttered, turning and accepting a hand from Katara as they walked out of the kitchen hut. “A brawl between a couple kids? Who would watch that— nobody would even get hurt!”

                “Goodnight, Kuvira. Don’t get into too much trouble,” Suyin laughed.

                “Yes, Master Beifong,” the teenager hastily bowed.

                Suyin adjusted her crownpiece and slyly nodded at Korra before walking down the porch steps and into the blizzard. Korra grabbed Kuvira’s wrist and tugged her through the snow— Naga bounding behind them— all the way to her hut at the center of the compound. She threw the door open and the three of them stumbled in.

                “She’s something else!” Korra excitedly blurted.

                “Yeah,” Kuvira timidly agreed, “Great teacher, though. Uh… from what I’ve heard, of course.”

                Korra offered for the older girl to have the bed, to which Kuvira argued that the Avatar needed her beauty rest. They bickered for five whole minutes before a tired Naga pushed them both onto the mattress and they collided into one another. Two pairs of eyes stared at each other from two inches apart, and Kuvira’s hand rested on Korra’s back. A long moment of tension passed in the room as blue gazed into green before slowly blinking.

                “I have a question,” Korra whispered.

                “Shoot.”

                “Have you ever been kissed before?”

                Kuvira drew back a few millimeters, but the younger girl still caught the reaction. Then she shook her head;

                “Don’t you think we ought to know each other a bit better? I mean, strangers don’t usually kiss right on the spot.”

                “Oh,” Korra murmured in disappointment. “I suppose you’re right.”

                Kuvira reached out and grabbed a dark hand, intertwining their fingers with care, “Tell you what, if we become friends and we find out that we have a lot in common and that we really like each other, I’ll let you kiss me, okay?”

                 Korra scooted over so that there was a foot of space between them on the bed, “It’s a deal.”

 

 

.               .               .

 

_Eight Years Later:_

 

                Kuvira stared at the ceiling and paused. Dammit, she’d lost count. She looked back at the corner and started counting stalactites again, ignoring the way her breath froze in the air and lazily drifted up— being locked away in a ice-covered prison for a year didn’t help adjust the temperature difference from Zaofu, either. On the wall, an old banner from her army hung, frozen against the walls as some sick joke by the guards. She decided to keep it there as a reminder of who she’d been— not that the hate letters from the general public couldn’t do just that. In the corner, a small wooden shelf held battered books and a phonograph, custom built with platinum parts. Thankfully the records didn’t warp in the cold, only the heat. Not that Kuvira had heating in here.

                _Twenty seven… twenty eight… twenty nine…_

                The chunk of ice that served as a door slowly split apart as the guards let someone into the room. Kuvira sat up from her cheap mattress and raised an eyebrow as the figure slowly undid the balaclava covering her face.

                “I keep telling them that they need to warm it up in here,” Korra sighed.

                “Well this is a prison made out of _ice_ … in the _Northern Water Tribe_ … and it is _winter_ …” Kuvira pointed out, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and slowly standing. “What can I do for you today?”

                “I just came to check on you.”

                Kuvira ignored the tone of concern in the Avatar’s voice, striding across the room and putting a jazz album on the phonograph.

                “The guards say that you’ve been inactive. That you’re not exercising anymore, and that whole trays of food have been sent back into the kitchen. I’m worried about you,” Korra reiterated. “All things considered, this isn’t nearly as bad of a prison setup as the Red Lotus members were put in!”

                “What difference does it make? I’m spending the rest of my life in here.”

                “It matters, it matters a lot!” Korra protested. “It matters to me!”

                “Why?”

                She’d said it soft, almost like a whisper. The horrors of her campaign flashed before her, and in the mirror— rather than an imprisoned woman in a gray jumpsuit— a tall, strikingly handsome commander stood, her evergreen eyes narrowed and her hands folded behind her back as she surveyed the prison cell. Kuvira looked away from the mirror and back at Korra, who seemed almost at a loss for words.

                And then all of a sudden, she was pulled into a fierce hug. Kuvira’s knees went weak and she collapsed into Korra’s arms— the two of them dropping to the floor. A hand rose and cupped the back of the former Great Uniter’s head, tangling in straggly, unkempt hair and cradling Kuvira closer.

                “You were my best friend,” Korra whimpered. “The only person I truly trusted as a kid. Until I went to Republic City, you were all I had, besides my family.”

                Kuvira took a deep breath, “You were all I had, too. I’m so, so sorry for everything I’ve done.”

                “I know.”

                The Avatar pulled away from the embrace and gently pressed her lips up against the older woman’s, and for the first time in Kuvira’s life, everything made sense. She shuddered a little into the kiss, but held her ground— clutching Korra’s elbow with one hand and gently stroking the younger girl’s face with the other. Kuvira closed her eyes and forgot for the briefest of moments that she was in prison.

                When they finally broke apart, Korra couldn’t help but chuckle, wiping away a tear and pressing her forehead up against her former enemy’s temple.

                “I guess we finally made good on that deal, huh?”

 

 


End file.
